Child abuse is an act committed by adult who engaged in sexual
contact with a child that involved inappropriate touching, genital
stimulation, or any types of sexual interaction. This is an illegal act
because the child is not mature enough to make decisions about getting
involved sexually with another person and they don’t understand the
consequences of such action.

Child sexual abuse can take the form of incest and pedophilia.
Incest is usually committed by the victim’s family members or someone
close to the family such as the parent, grandparent, aunts and uncle,
older sibling, babysitter, or neighbor. Pedophilia or child molestation
is committed by adult who are not related to the victim.

The most common form of incest is between father and daughter or
between stepfather and daughter. The incest may begin with fun innocent
touching, kissing, or wrestling while the child is still young and
overtime the activities may transition to touching of the breasts and
genitals, oral stimulation, and intercourse. Rather than using physical
force the father may use his emotional closeness to achieve his desire
by letting her know he is teaching her something important.

In some cases the mother may have discovered the incest but
allowed it to go on for fear of shame and losing her family. The victim
herself may be afraid to report to authorities when she discovered such
behavior is inappropriate for fear of losing her family when father
gets imprison and mother struggle with financial difficulties.

Internet has become perfect hunting ground for child sexual
abuse. Child molester prey on innocent child using chat rooms designed
for children. Pedophile use internet to connect with other child
molester to exchange child pornography, discuss about molestation, and
provide support for each other.

Pedophile begins with gaining child’s trust by appearing to
understand their problems and concerns. Then they may try to exchange
email or get some form of contacts from the victim. Pedophile may send
pornographic materials to the victim indicating sexual interaction
between adult and child is appropriate and finally they may try to meet
with the victim.

Internet is a vast media and there are no effective laws to
properly regulate such media therefore parents are responsible for
protecting their children. Parents should monitor children when they go
online and educate them never give out personal information via
internet or meet with someone they met online.

Pedophiles offenders cannot be easily identified and most
offenders are male who may also engage in other sexual behavior such as
exhibitionism, voyeurism, and sexual sadism. Pedophile exists in all socioeconomic
levels regardless of education, occupation, race and religion. Many
pedophile offenders who have been prosecuted tend to be shy, lonely,
poorly informed about sexuality, and religious.

Many pedophiles have poor interpersonal skills when relating
sexually with other adults. Some may have been the victim of abuse
during their childhood and suffered from poor emotional adjustment.
Some are well educated and may pick their victims from family friends
and neighbors.

Incest offenders also cannot be easily identified and most
offenders are male from all socioeconomic levels. Many incest offenders
tend to be heavy drinker, unemployed, religious, and emotionally
immature. They have poor interpersonal skills when relating sexually
with other adults and have false sense of idea regarding sexual contact
between adult and child.

Child sexual abuse can be severely traumatizing and emotionally
damaging to the victims. The victims may suffer from psychological
trauma that may last for years. Many victims experience difficulty
developing intimate relationship with others and more often they are
confused about their emotion and sexuality.

One study discovered that sexually abuse male are more likely to
attempt suicide than sexually abuse female. Sexually abuse male are
more likely to experience emotional and behavioral problems than
sexually abuse female. In the US there are different treatments
programs such as individual therapy, group therapy, and self-help
support organizations that help child sexual abuse survivor deal with
the trauma.